


Shades, Swords, Shadows

by UbiquitousSpontaneities



Series: There's a (few) new Link(s) in this chain! [2]
Category: Linked Universe - Fandom, The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords
Genre: :) cant wait!!, FSA does not belong where it is in the timeline, Four Sword - Freeform, Four is literally Link from the Four Swords Manga, Gen, Linked Universe (Legend of Zelda), Minor Angst, The Palace of the Four Sword, and thats on top of Four's already confusing backstory, because why not, i can finally add the tag!!, so we're just gonna ignore the fact that it doesn't make sense, this is gonna get interesting my friends
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-05
Updated: 2019-11-03
Packaged: 2020-06-25 14:31:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,848
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19747651
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UbiquitousSpontaneities/pseuds/UbiquitousSpontaneities
Summary: It was as if time had frozen, the shock coursing through his body gluing his eyes to the sword in his hand. He stared at the hilt of the half-drawn sword, the sword that shouldn’t be here. It shouldn’t be possible for it to be here.Or: the writer read the Four Swords Manga and Linked Universe at the same time and can't stop thinking about ideas for more Four ficsON HIATUS FOR A FEW MONTHS (due poor planning + rl complications, but don't worry!! i am still writing and iwillfinish this fic, i just need to take the pressure of for a bit! ty all for reading and i'm still super hyped for this so far!)





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We need more stuff about Four and his selves, so here I am, and if it all goes to plan this fic should be about three chapters. 
> 
> This first chapter takes place before my Legend fic, but the next two will take place after, so the order in the series may be a bit confusing. If so, just check the description for the series and it should show when each chapter is planned on taking place. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy!

“Call me Four.”

It hadn’t been hard to convince Four to join them. They were still getting used to the abrupt shifts between worlds, and the trio was uncertain how long they would have before leaving. After multiple jaunts through worlds unknown to all three of them, they were quick to realize that a new world did not guarantee a new Hero, much to the disappointment of Hyrule. So the group was fairly pleased to find a fellow Link, even if he was so... _unique._

“This is a nice place Four, are you a, uh…” Sky trailed off, glancing off into the side room. 

“Blacksmith,” Four filled in, passing by the confused Hero as he collected a surprisingly large amount of equipment from the room, seemingly too much for one person. Drawing a strange look from Warriors, he continued. “I lived in the castle for a while, but, you know, it's easier after… Don’t touch that.”

“Sorry!” Hyrule startled back from the ornate sword hung on the wall. “It’s very well crafted, did you make it?” Four pulled it down from the plaque it hung from. To the average onlooker, it would appear to be complete, aside from a conspicuous, shallow hole on the hilt, as if it was missing some centerpiece to the design. Four sheathed it in the scabbard at his waist, protectively covering the hilt as he continued.

“Yes, its a replica of the sword – of a sword that was important to me.” He turned back towards the group, gesturing towards the Master Sword sheathed at Sky’s back. “Now that one there, that one’s a masterpiece. Do you know who made it?”

“You- you don’t recognize it?” Sky asked.

“It’s not that strange Sky, I wielded a different one too, remember?” Hyrule chimed in. Turning to Four, he said, “I used the Magic Sword, but the one he has is the Master Sword, seems like most of the Heroes Warriors and I have heard of used that one… what was yours called?” 

“Well, it was originally the Picori Sword, but after my first quest I started calling it the Four Sword, and, well, I guess it kind of stuck?” He muttered something under his breath before finally deciding that his bag was full enough, although Sky was baffled as to why the barely-able-to-close latch hadn’t clued Four in to this sooner. “So, can I assume we have a plan or…?”

“Well shortstack, we don’t exactly have a plan, but we do need to stock up on food, so is there a town of some sorts near here?” Warriors’ comment drew a glare from Four as he scribbled out a short note on a paper he pinned to the door as the group made their way out of the small house. 

“Don’t call me that.” The fierce look on the boy’s face seemed out of place, but it was gone as soon as it had appeared, and the group settled into a comfortable conversation as they made their way to town.

–––––⊱▲⊰–––––

Four knew he acted different. 

The strange looks he drew from people who knew him, from Zelda, from his _father_ , of all people, weren’t exactly subtle, and that was hardly the first clue. He was used to the stares and other looks that were pretty much par for the course for someone who had saved the country, but after… this one, he knew he acted different than he had before.

Strange comments tossed out to people who weren’t there to hear, double takes made for seemingly no reason, referring to himself in the wrong way and mentioning people no one knew. Uncanny maturity interspersed with uncharacteristic mood swings. A head full of too many thoughts for one person, too many for one to make sense of but not enough for one to know how to deal with it. It wasn’t exactly a secret what had happened the last time he had to draw the sword, but after he deliberately moved out of the knights’ barracks and seemed to go out of his way to avoid Castle Town for a few weeks, most people took the hint and left anything about it unsaid when he slowly started turning up more again. Didn’t mention how reserved he became, how much he isolated himself to escape the stress of being alone in public, with people who tried their best but were unable to understand. 

Four knew he acted different. 

So it was relieving to travel with people who expected nothing of him, who didn’t know him as the hero-turned-recluse. It was relieving that they understood the desire to keep some things to himself, to hide facts about his adventures. It wasn’t like he was the only one hiding things, so it was less strange that he just neglected to mention some facts. 

The group was nice enough, though the one Sky had called Warriors was quite obviously much more… outspoken, to put it nicely, than the other two, as he quickly learned as they made their trek towards Castle Town. The familiarity of the boasts sparked a twinge of longing in Four, but the group was quickly distracted from the conversation by the sudden change in scenery, much to the disappointment of Warriors and their dwindling food supply. After some choice words from Warriors - Four was pretty sure some of the words he said weren’t real words? Although he guessed they had said they were from different times - they figured it couldn’t hurt to keep traveling, especially considering whatever force was making these shifts happen had _conveniently_ dumped them in the middle of… an ominous forest. The collective sigh from the group made it quite clear that this was surprising to exactly no one. 

After a not-insignificant amount of grumbling from pretty much the whole group, they continued on their way. To be honest, they had absolutely no clue where they were going, as none of the group recognized their surroundings (according to Sky this happened a lot), but hey, progress is progress, right? 

They were lucky enough to avoid confrontation with anyone, Hylian or otherwise, for a good hour or two before coming across a sizable clearing, as well as a traveler, their horse and about a dozen- well, he wasn’t quite sure what they were, although he did hear Warriors call out boko-something towards Hyrule - attacking them.

Unsurprising to exactly no one (except for maybe the traveler), the quartet sprung into action. Sky whipped the Master Sword out of its scabbard, transitioning smoothly into a defensive position in front of the traveler who was still struggling to regain control of his bucking horse. While Warriors and Hyrule began taking on their group of enemies, Four began to draw his own sword. 

Only to stop in his tracks as soon as his hand hit the grip. As soon as he felt the magic coursing through the sword and the gemstones emanating power on the hilt. 

It was as if time itself had frozen, the shock coursing through his body gluing his eyes to the sword in his hand. He stared at the hilt of the half-drawn sword, the sword that _shouldn’t be here_ . It _shouldn’t be possible_ for it to be here.

And if it was... _what did that mean for him?_

–––––⊱▲⊰––––– 

Sky was… confused. Four had seemed perfectly normal (well, as normal as one can be after _three_ whole adventures, he was still extremely impressed, especially considering how young he was...) in the few hours that he had known him, but the moment he went to draw his sword he just _froze_ . Stopped there, dead in his tracks, staring at his own blade like it would either come to life and stab him in the foot or he would chuck it as far away from him as possible, and he hadn’t quite decided which yet. It looked identical to how it had a few hours ago, aside from an even more conspicuous _lack_ of a missing section of the gilding, which was now occupied by a gemstone. Or, more accurately, gemstone _s,_ the four of which slotted together into a circular pattern reminiscent of the color blocks on Four’s tunic.

By the time Sky had dealt with his share of the enemies, Four had jammed the sword back into its sheath and was now frantically mumbling, backed up against a tree at the edge of the clearing. As Four anxiously knotted his hands in his hair, dislodging his headband in the process, it was evident that whatever it was that had happened warranted some sort of panicked response. So… what _had_ happened?

While Warriors helped the traveler to get his horse back under control, Sky hesitantly moved towards the shocked boy. The position was awkward, but Sky made to lean down to get his attention, only to be interrupted by a loud laugh coming from Warriors and the traveler. Sky glared at Warriors, who seemed to have completely missed the fact that their newest member was having some sort of crisis and instead had struck up a conversation. Still unaware of the situation, Warriors sauntered back over to Four and Sky, leaving Hyrule to send concerned looks their way as he continued talking to the traveler. Turning back towards Four, Sky straightened in surprise. The previously cowering boy had taken a conspicuous step away from the rest of the group, as if he didn’t want to be touched, the guarded look on his face matching the protective hand on his scabbard. 

“Oh! Four, are you alri – ”

“I’m fine.” Four’s voice was sullen as he cut Sky off, but the panic was still evident. His actions remained frantic, despite his blatant attempts to hide it as he subconsciously fidgeted the fabric of his tunic between his fingers and traced the gilt of the sword that had sparked the panic in the first place.

“Sky, leave the boy alone,” Warriors slung an enthusiastic arm around the younger boy’s shoulders before leaning towards Sky and continuing in a much more serious tone, “And besides, it seems like we may have a bigger problem over here.” He nodded towards where the traveler and Hyrule stood, the latter of which was beckoning them forward as the man dismounted from his horse. Four once again flinched away from the touch, still preoccupied with his thoughts enough to miss the uneasy looks cast his way by the rest of his party, as well as the unspoken _we’ll talk about this_ that hung in the air. 

“Sky, Four, this here is-”

“Spinch! And my horse here, also Spinch! Sorry, that’s, uh, not relevant, just habit I guess,” the traveler picked up where Warriors had left off. The man looked nervous, not exactly surprising considering he had just been rescued from an ambush by a group of heavily armed strangers, but continued, “Your friend here, he was asking me if I knew about any resting stops near here, but that’s exactly the problem, I have no idea where I am. By no means have I been _everywhere_ in Hyrule but… I’ve been to enough places to know this ain’t it.” 

–––––⊱▲⊰–––––

It took the group a while to figure out what was happening. In the end, Hyrule figured it came down to something like this: whatever mysterious force was pulling them through time wasn’t just affecting those with the Hero’s Spirit, as they had previously thought. No, it seemed as if it could affect anyone, though it was unclear how it worked, as well as how it allowed the four of them to stay together across each Hyrule. This particular observation came about after their newfound friend went off to the side to tie down his horse and disappeared by the time Hyrule turned to check on him. Hyrule wasn’t sure whether it was them who had shifted or Spinch, but nevertheless he hoped the man wouldn’t have too hard of a time trying to get back to his own version of Hyrule. 

By the time the four Heroes had worked this all out, it had been long since they had set out from Four’s house. Considering that none of them recognized their surroundings, the slightly-off feeling that told each of the travelers that something wasn’t quite right with their location in the universe confirmed their suspicions that they were in yet another new Hyrule.

“Maybe it’s Hylia?” Hyrule asked, stoking the makeshift fire in hopes to get it bright enough to see through the growing shadows. “It’s not exactly her style, but…” 

He trailed off, but quickly went back to correct himself when he spotted the vaguely offended look on Sky’s face. “Not the pulling people through time bit, I doubt she’d do something like that, let alone to regular people, I meant whatever magic is keeping our group together.”

“I’ve been through something like this before, seems like almost any kind of world-bending magic is almost always Ganon’s fault, or someone helping him,” Warriors said, dusting off a patch of dirt before settling himself down onto it. “Although, I’d rather believe its not him _again_ , considering all of us already sealed him during our times, and it seems unlikely that we're in the future.”

At this, Four, who had been rather quiet since the fight, spoke up for the first time. “What do you mean again?”

The dwindling conversation ground to a halt, as each of the four heroes stared at each other. The confused look on Sky’s face matched Four’s, while Hyrule sent a concerned glance towards Warriors. In the short amount of time the trio had been traveling together before encountering Four, the two had realized that they were likely much closer together in terms of time than either of them were to Sky. It appeared as if Sky was the first instance of the Hero’s Spirit, although he vehemently insisted that there was one that came before him, despite a complete lack of any myths or stories about any hero before the Chosen Hero. If Four was the first Hero to battle Ganon…

“By the Three Aspects, of _course!”_ Warriors laughed, a jarring noise against the relative quiet of the crackling fire and windswept canopy. “You’re the Hero of-” 

He snapped his fingers, clearly trying to recall the title, but was cut off once again by Four. “The Four Sword. Your point being?”

“I thought you were the Hero of Light, who-”

“I _am_ the Hero of Light. As well as the Hero of the Four Sword.” This statement took all the wind out of Warriors’ sails. He looked bewildered, and Hyrule couldn’t help being confused as well.

“But the Hero of Light comes after the Era of Twilight and the Hero of Time…” Warriors trailed off.

“Who’s the Hero of Time, I’ve never heard of-”

“Well then your history is wrong I guess, because I’ve never-”

“Alright!” Sky interrupted all three of them. Hyrule recoiled, the glare sent around the camp so uncharacteristic for the cheerful Hero. “Maybe we should try to figure this out one step at a time rather than jumping at each other’s throats.”

“That’s a really good idea Sky,” Four chirped, a sharp turn around from the sheepish look on his face the moment before and the defensiveness the moment before that. He rummaged in his bag, which Hyrule noted was still rather overstuffed, before pulling a well worn book. 

As Four flipped through the book, Hyrule noticed a few recurring images. The most prominent one was a sword, not unlike the one that lay sheathed at Four’s side, while the other was an oval shaped… something. Leaning forward, he tried to get a better look at the book, only to receive a frowning glance from Four as he covered up the pages. Once Four found a blank section, he returned once again to his pack to find a writing tool, only to stop in his tracks.

Hyrule was confused at first, considering how gung-ho the boy had been just seconds before, until he realized the obvious problem with their solution. In his interest in Four’s drawings, he had glossed over the fact that:

“We don’t all write in the same languages, do we.” Four said. The looks Sky and Warriors gave the book confirmed his suspicions. Four frowned in defeat.

“Storms and thunder, Four, it’s really not that difficult.” Warriors muttered, taking the book from Four’s hand and scribbling something down. He fiddled with it for a while before flipping it back around triumphantly to display a rather crude drawing of a row of people, the first of which was wearing a scarf. 

Warriors sat back with a proud grin. Sky leaned forward to a better view before commenting dryly, “Shouldn’t I be first, considering that I showed up in your time and not the other way around.”

The smirk faltered for a second, before Four said, “There’s no point in arguing over the semantics, the point is we have a system now. Although, I would like to ask, how does _this_ –” he gestured to the fourth of the hastily scribbled figures “ – represent me?”

“Well,” Warriors reached for the book again, flipping it back around towards the group, “This is Sky, ‘cause he has the Master Sword and he’s right handed, this one with the dark hair is Hyrule, and Four, you’re this one because you’ve got the tunic pattern.” Taking into account the fact that these defining features were rendered in monochrome scribbles, the others’ incredulity was understandable. 

Deciding to move past this, Sky sighed. Pulling the book back into his own lap, he paused, and looked about the group. “Alright then Warriors, Hyrule, tell us about these other Heroes you’ve mentioned, and maybe we can figure some of this out.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hmm, who/what's Four worried about guys?
> 
> Up next on whatever the hell this is: Why you shouldn't trust places named after weapons and How the hell does Blind the Bandit work?
> 
> (Points to anyone who can guess where they're going, this place has a lot of missed potential in this AU.)


	2. A Few Too Many Jellyfish and Far Too Few Fucks to Give

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this took way longer than i had hoped, i am so sorry to those who were waiting! but, i think it turned out pretty good all things considered! sorry if the writing style changes a lot, this was mostly written at midnight when i had random spurts of motivation over a two month period, so it might be a bit inconsistent. i hope y'all enjoy! 
> 
> (a big thank you to the discord for helping me get inspired and brian david gilbert for motivating me to actually work on this, if only to include unraveled references)

Four had gotten unbelievably lucky. Between the chaos of meeting so many more Heroes and the increasingly powerful monsters the group encountered over the next few weeks, they never did get around to addressing the strange occurrence in that fateful first battle. By the time they met up with Legend, they understood that some of them just had things they’d prefer not to talk about, and luckily for Four his reluctance to mention some details were overshadowed by Legend’s complete refusal to mention anything. Besides that, Four knew that he and Legend were nowhere near the only two in the group to be keeping secrets. They all had something they were hiding, be it the strange looks Warriors had given Wind and Time when they had first met them, whatever weird connection Wild and Twilight had, and Legend’s… well, honestly just Legend himself. He seemed to be an enigma, one wrapped in a mystery hidden by a question mark, all covered up by a snarky personality and a pink streak in his hair. 

So the group just silently agreed to let these things go. That didn’t stop them from throwing concerned looks Four’s way when he went out of his way to avoid using his sword, of course. He could fight perfectly well without it, being a knight and spending a few too many of his teen years adventuring made sure of that, but he was a swordsman for a reason, they all were. It was a quiet point of contention in the group, and it was clear the others were confused as to why their self-proclaimed sword smith was hesitant to use his blade. Especially Legend. Four wasn’t quite sure why, but ever since he had introduced himself, Legend had been giving him strange looks. It wouldn’t be too far out of the question for Legend to simply recognize his hero title, but Four doubted that, considering Hyrule had never heard of him and he seemed to come directly after Legend (one of the few things they _were_ sure about with regards to the timeline). But Legend never brought it up, and so Four was left in the dark. Until they stumbled upon a certain misplaced dungeon. 

–––––⊱▲⊰–––––

“You see, the good rule of thumb for this sort of thing is that, you know,” Legend said, wobbling a little on the ledge he was currently balancing on and quite nearly dropping his lantern as he spoke, “Magicians are always evil.” 

“Uh, what? How is that even relevant? Why are you even up there?” Warriors sounded as if he was about 3 seconds from pulling Legend down himself, no matter how risky yanking the man of the cliff would be. The group had been trudging through a particularly dark cave and were, unsurprisingly, a little grumpy considering the situation. They had entered a cave in Hyrule’ era, he had said something about a town (Four couldn’t remember the name for the life of him but it had sparked some recognition in Time, he had been rather quiet for a while) but they weren’t that surprised that _another_ time shift had to interrupt their travel. It was practically tradition at this point, as soon as they decided they were going somewhere, whatever cosmic force that pulled them through time like this decided they weren’t. It didn’t help that the cave only seemed to get longer, and their limited light flickered with every gesture Legend made. Usually one of the others would have lit the way, but most had run out of oil hours ago (or in Wild’s case, broken their only torch), and Hyrule’s candle was much less powerful. So they made do with Legend’s magic-powered lantern, as well as his erratic movements. 

Completely ignoring Warriors, Legend gave Hyrule a glance before correcting himself. “And I don’t mean like what you do Hyrule, ‘most everyone does some bit of magic, I’m talking about those _krifagen_ idiots who commit to the schtick of, ‘I can do magic, and that’s literally it’ and are for some reason surprised when I kick their ass. I mean, the number of times I’ve had to deal with some hotshot that decides ‘You know what I’m gonna do today? I think I’ll destroy a country or two, make a day of it,’ is insane.” Without missing a beat, Legend pulled out his well-worn hookshot and launched himself on top of a rather large boulder that lay in front of the group and continued, “So, what I’m thinking is that some magician, sorcerer, _whatever_ is doing this to resurrect Ganon again or some bullshit.” 

“I see where you’re coming from,” Four said, reaching down to help Wind cross the obstacle, “I mean, Vaati was a swordsman, I guess, but after that first one he pretty much just committed to the whole magic thing too.” Whatever he said next was too low for the group hear, but he continued, “And we all know how well that turned out.” A few of the group gave a small chuckle, but the tension remained. They had been in the cave for a few hours now and the Hero's Spirit didn't exactly vibe well with these prolonged jaunts through confined spaces. Hadn’t Hyrule said that the cave wasn’t that long? 

“We’ve switched worlds,” Twilight said wearily. Hyrule nodded, the familiar feeling that came with being in his own time having faded and been replaced by the slightly nauseating sense that he now recognized as being in a different time period than one belonged. 

“Is it just me, or it is getting lighter?” Sky asked, leading the group around the corner. They were getting concerningly deep underground, but Sky gestured for Legend to extinguish his light. As his eyes adjusted, Four readied himself, just in case. To his surprise, as they rounded the curve he felt a growing sense of surety that-

“This is my Hyrule.”

“This is my- I’m sorry, what?” Four cut himself off and stared at Legend. The feeling was mutual, as evidenced by Legend’s look of confusion. Legend’s exasperated sigh was interrupted by Wind, who had been pulling up the rear of the group.

“So let me get this straight. Somehow we’re in both, _both_ of your timelines, simultaneously?” He blinked in confusion. “That uh, isn’t how time works, to my knowledge.” 

“Get used to it kid,” the long-suffering Legend said as he forged ahead. “And Four, how can this be your Hyrule when _that_ is clearly my Hylian.” He gestured to a worn inscription on the base of large statue. It appeared to be… a wizard? It was extremely hard to make out what it was. Next to the statue was a rather suspicious crack in the wall, the telltale sign that something was hiding behind it.

Four was pulled out of his thoughts by a gasp from Legend, as well as the sound of Wild equipping a bomb and chucking it bodily at the crack before yanking Legend and Four out of the way of the blast. 

“A little more warning woulda been nice,” Legend deadpanned, pushing his way past the small pile of rubble. The dust hung in the stale air that rushed into the cave, setting off multiple coughing fits as the group made to follow him. 

“What else was I supposed to do? The cave ends here.” Wild said, gesturing towards the dead end as they began to pass through the hole.

“Wait, what did it say?” Sky squinted at the inscription, as if he would somehow miraculously be able to read a language that was thousands of years younger than he was by staring at it harder. Legend shrugged, avoiding eye contact with his companions. Entering the dimly lit room, they were surprised to find it significantly brighter than the pitch-black cave they had been in before and so missed the fact that Legend had stopped dead in his tracks not 6 feet into the room. 

The room was filthy, undoubtedly old, and covered in dust. From the intricately carved walls to the creepily rendered statues, all was coated in the unmistakable sense that this place was definitely-

“A temple.” Four said. He was perched on his tiptoes to see over the statues that seemed to wall them in by the entrance. The only opening was blocked by Legend, who made eye contact with Four for a short, uncomfortable second before noticeably avoiding the shorter boy’s gaze as he corrected him.

“No. Not a temple.” Legend directed the many confused stares sent his way towards the inscription on the door behind them. “The Palace of the Four Sword.” His statement was punctuated by the slam of the wall closing behind them.

–––––⊱▲⊰–––––

“Hey, at least now we know Four wasn’t completely wrong, right?” Wind asked, in a futile attempt to keep the conversation light. After letting themselves be conned out of twenty rupees by a vaguely rat-looking thief (Warriors ended up being the one to fuss up the money, as the two leading the group seemed to be just as flustered as the rest) they had made their way through the corridor and emerged into a large hall. Five doorways branched out of it, two on either side of a raised platform that proudly displayed another door, this one featuring a rather garish magical barrier in front of it. This was where the group found themselves now, having quickly disposed of the weaker enemies found in the room. 

Legend scoffed. “I dunno, this is definitely styled like one of my dungeons, and _that_ is absolutely a boss fight behind that door.” He slashed the magic rather half-heartedly with his sword before muttering something in Labrynnian under his breath. 

“Does that, uh, usually work with your final rooms?” Wind asked skeptically, “because usually you need a-”

“Not always, but it was worth a shot.” A tense silence settled upon the group, not sure of what to do. Normally, one of their strategists would have taken charge, but between _somehow_ being in two different time periods at once (they had politely ignored some rather choice words Legend had for Nayru) and their hesitance to break the unspoken rule not to pry they had come to a standstill. All eyes fell on Four again, who looked uncomfortable. He was staring at the doorway that loomed before him, the knuckles of his left hand white as he gripped the sword that had sparked their unspoken questions. He looked as conflicted as they all felt. 

Legend scoffed, and pushed his way towards the back of the room, shoulder-checking Warriors along the way. 

“Are you _seriously_ just gonna walk away? I can’t be the only one whose wondered-” Warriors turned his glare away from Legend to Four, “Four, ever since that first day, you’ve been weird about your sword. I-”

“I am _not_ just walking away, thank you very much, _I’m_ going to head through that door back there and try to find a way out of this Din-forsaken place,” Legend cut Warriors off, much to Four’s relief. Twilight shrugged and made to follow him. He figured it wasn’t worth pushing it, considering Four was already keeping one major secret for him as well as how shaken the boy looked. So rather than question the Hero about both the sword and the strange behavior (not that Twilight wasn’t curious), he prompted the others to follow him and Legend out of the grandiose chamber.

–––––⊱▲⊰–––––

“For the love of Nayru, I’ve _already_ fought this bastard. _Twice._ ” Legend’s exasperation was palpable. The group had made their way across a rather dingy canal that inexplicably ran through the dungeon with very little trouble. No, the trouble had come when the door to the next room unceremoniously slammed shut behind him, stranding half their number on the other side. The trouble had come when a boss enemy, the type usually reserved for the end of a temple, had appeared practically on top of a very bewildered Sky. The trouble had come when said boss enemy had begun to summon in quite frankly far more - were those jellyfish? - than were reasonable for such a confined space. 

And this was why Legend, Four, Sky, and Hyrule found themselves scrambling for hookshots while dodging bolts of electricity that the jellyfish-like creatures threw off every which way as they bounced around the room. In Legend’s opinion, this was utter bullshit. Not only did he have to fight this overgrown eyeball again, but that stupid magical force that caused all this - he was still convinced it was some over-zealous sorcerer with a god complex - had infected not just the main eyeball but all the Arrgi that floated ominously around them as well. His memory was a little fuzzy - it had been quite a few years since that blasted Swamp Palace - but he was fairly certain that there were way more than last time as well, which was just wonderful considering half of his fighting force had never used a hookshot before, let alone whatever was happening with Four. 

The Hero in question was acting _strange._ Not exactly like how Wild got when recollecting something, but not that far from it either. He had fumbled the hookshot Sky had hastily shoved into his hands, and had looked almost sick during Legend’s hasty description of the enemy’s fighting pattern. The last time Legend saw him he was backed into a corner on the opposite side of the room, robotically dispatching enemies with his boomerang when they got too close but otherwise way more out of it than Legend would have liked (not that he would admit it). Between one Arrgi and the next Legend found himself crouched next to the boy, his boots absolutely soaked by the few inches of water that covered the floor.

“Four,” Legend elbowed the Hero, trying to get his attention. Four’s eyes stayed glued to the ground, and he hugged his free hand to himself absentmindedly, oblivious to Legend standing next to him. “ _Four,”_ he tried again, “F- _Link.”_

That seemed to rouse him a bit. But Legend didn’t miss how he clutched himself tighter and that far off, slightly pained look that remained in his eyes. It pained him to have to do this, but he pulled the boy to his feet - rougher than he should have, _oops_ \- and patted the hookshot on his arm. “Kinda in the middle of a battle here, if you could-” he cut himself off as he ducked under another one of the jellyfish beasts, narrowing escaping a particular nasty shock of electricity. As he turned around to check on his reluctant charge again, he noticed the hero was anything but. He looked to be much more alert now, definitely much closer to the unshakable Hero he knew him to be. 

Unable to meet Legend’s eyes, Four turned away from him and shakily raised his borrowed hookshot. “Sorry. I’m fine, just… this place feels...”

Legend missed what he said, but had to let it go as an alarmed shout from Hyrule and a violent screech from the massive eyeball drew his attention away.

Aim. Lauch, pullreleaseattack. Repeat. They settled into a sort of macabre rhythm, one Hero ducking out of the way just in time for another to launch their own attack. By now Legend was sure that there were _way_ more Arrgi than last time. (Where did that name even come from? When did he- nevermind. Not the time to contemplate the sheer impossibility of this place’s existence). The fight wasn’t _difficult_ , per se, but it was _tedious._ By the time they had finally dispatched the last of the Arrgi, they were all breathing hard and Legend was certain none of them had escaped unscathed. Nevertheless, all were quick to redouble their efforts when the now unprotected Arrgus began to fling itself off the walls of the room. Narrowing dodging one of such attacks, Sky spun himself into a spin attack, flinging the eyeball towards Legend’s blade. Hyrule came next, slashing his own sword through the beast as it came close. They continued this rotation, but with a few more close calls than Legend would have liked. If Four would just… 

Before they knew it, Hyrule landed a particularly well-placed hit on the Arrgus, finally ending the fight. Sheathing his sword, Legend stretched as the beast dissolved in a pathetic explosion. All four of them jumped at the loud crash that shook the room as the door in front of them opened, sending ripples throughout the shallow water.

“Uh,” Sky looked back at the door that still kept them from their friends before gesturing towards the newly revealed passageway. “I guess we have to through here first.”

“There better not be another one of those…” Legend trailed off as he stepped through the doorway, one foot still suspended from where he shook the dampness from his boot. He gaped at the pedestal in the middle of the room. “Four, uh, is that?”

“It can’t be,” Hyrule echoed Legend’s disbelief.

Four looked up from where he was stashing his boomerang. He froze.   
Four shakily made his way up to the pedestal, laying a hesitant hand on the blade. “It- it’s not. Not technically.” He scrubbed at his face - _was he crying?_ \- as he ran his fingers over the green crystal at the base of the blade. “What _is_ this place, Legend? Something, something is _wrong_ here.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (i may enjoy making up swears for Legend a little too much...)
> 
> this chapter was originally supposed to have all four of the fights, but i think it's for the best that it doesn't 😅anyway, that's why the chapter count changed, ideally i'll get the next part out relatively soon but we all know how that worked out last time... 
> 
> anyway, i hope you enjoyed!


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